Defense was the focus all week for a Colorado men’s basketball team that played very little of it during the first two games of the season.
The scoreboard said the visitors put up 88 points on the Buffaloes in Boulder on Friday night. But the reality is, CU’s defense took a dramatic step forward in a 97-88 win against Providence. And that incremental improvement will be critical as the Buffs continue to try to flip the script from last year’s last-place finish in the Big 12.
After allowing the season’s first two opponents to shoot at least 51%, CU limited Providence to a .446 mark. That’s still not the 40%-or-below marker the Buffs have always set as their game goal under head coach Tad Boyle, but Boyle was pleased with his young squad’s improved grasp of the defensive scouting report. And CU’s increased defensive energy along the perimeter helped hold the Friars to a 6-for-25 mark on 3-pointers.
Providence had knocked down 24 3-pointers in its previous two games.
“I felt like our scouting report defense took a step forward. A major step forward,” Boyle said. “That’s the good news. Now we’ve got to talk about playing defense without fouling. Some nights are going to be like that, and Providence has got really good guards who know how to score and know how to get to the free throw line. We’ve got to figure out now how to guard without fouling. We figure that out, we’ve got a chance to be pretty good.
“The other thing I liked about our team was our attention to the scouting report. You could just see it. You could sense it. You could feel it. It’s one of the things I think I’m really going to enjoy coaching this team, is their willingness and their desire to get better. And we got better defensively (against Providence).”
As CU regroups on a relatively quick turnaround for a Monday night home date against Alabama State (7 p.m., ESPN+), another encouraging sign through the first three games has been the Buffs’ improved depth.
Colorado has had three different leading scorers so far, and two different leading rebounders. In just three games, the Buffs already have had two different freshmen come off the bench to put up at least 20 points, with Isaiah Johnson scoring 24 in a season-opening win against Montana State before Alon Michaeli recorded 20 points with six rebounds against Providence.
The Buffs managed to beat a quality Big East team in Providence with two of their top returning players — Sebastian Rancik and Bangot Dak — combining to go 5-for-13 with two assists (both by Rancik) and three turnovers.
“The thing that makes this team so potent and so dangerous as we progress through this season is we’re deep,” Boyle said. “We’ve got guys like Alon coming off the bench. We’ve got a guy like Isaiah Johnson coming off the bench. We’ve got depth. Jalin Holland gave us good minutes (against Providence). We’ve got guys that aren’t playing. Ian Inman didn’t play much. Andrew Crawford didn’t play at all. We’ve got guys on that bench that are capable players that may not get the minutes on certain nights. But we’ve got a lot of different guys that can help this team win both offensively and defensively.
“If we can stay together collectively, we’ll progress and get better as the season goes on. It’s a long season. You never know what’s going to happen.”